Car-coupling.



B. L. KAHNE & A. L. ROBERTS.

OAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JUNBa, 1912.

5 m M 8 9 Ge Y 1 M M 00' E0 n V 0 t W I U W m LL A r a d I I a w B 6 .6 I H I am n H l ur Q u 96 a 8 P A loan WA f/ZZ BERTHA LOUISE KAHNE AND AUGUSTA LEE ROBERTS, 0F ASHLAND, KENTUCKY.

CAR-COUPLIN G.

Application filed June 5, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Benn-m L. KAHNE and AUGUSTA L. RonnR'rs, citizens of the United States, and residents of Ashland, in the county of Boyd and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and Improved Car- Coupler, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to railway draft appliances and has particular reference to draw bars or couplers which are much more reliable in operation than those previously proposed or commonly used and which, in the case of breakage, may be more readily and cheaply repaired than usual.

The object of this invention primarily is to provide a coupler of any usual or preferred design which is provided with an auxiliary member by virtue of which practically all of the delays incident to broken coupler heads might be avoided through the expedient of simply replacing such auxiliary member, such substitution requiring but a few minutes of time and correspondingly slight expense.

The foregoing and other objects of this invention will be hereinafter fully described and claimed and illustrated in the drawings accompanying this specification in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan View of a conventional form of coupler head adapted to receive our improvement; Fig. 2 is a similar View with the auxiliary member and knuckle in place; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 2; and Fig. 4; is a perspective view of the auxiliary member.

In our extensive experience in practical railroad operations we have observed that fully ninety per cent, or more of the breakage of car couplers of the Janney type occurs at the portion of the head into or through which the knuckle pivot pin passes, or, in other words, at the eyes. As usually constructed the coupler head, with the eye portions, is made integral with the shank, and when an eye is broken out the entire head has to be removed and is scrapped. This entails an enormous expense upon the company, not only because of the cost of the head and which becomes a total loss, but also because of the delay incident to making the change.

We avoid the foregoing objections by Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 8, 1912. Serial No. 701,774.

means of the design and construction of the specifically described except as to note that it is provided with a vertical opening 10 in which is adapted to be placed the usual look (not shown), and also being adapted to have pivoted therein a preferred form of knuckle 11.

Instead of making the head with the eye portions thereof integral, we form on the side of the head a hub or block 12 which will be of substantial size and proportions whereby it will be practically unbreakable. Said block is formed integral with the head in the casting of the same. The block is shown provided with a plurality of vertical holes 12, and at its front face it is provided furthermore with a pair of shoulders 13 which extend forwardly slightly from the body of the block and formed substantially arc-shaped, as shown in Fig. 1. The rear face of the block 12 is preferably slightly undercut, as shown at 12, to increase the interlocking cooperation between it and the auxiliary member described below.

The above-mentioned auxiliary member which will be hereinafter, for convenience of description, referred to as a strap 14:, is constructed in the form of a yoke and adapted to embrace the aforesaid block 12 on its upper, rear and lower sides, and is adapted to be secured rigidly thereto by means of bolts 15 passed through the aforesaid holes 12. As shown in Fig. 4, the strap is recessed slightly at 14 whereby it is better adapted to conform to the shape of the shank 10'. The front portion of the strap comprises a pair of hubs 16 which correspond to the eye portions of the usual coupler head, the eyes, however, in our construction being preferably slightly elliptical, as shown at 16 in Fig. 2.

The knuckle 11 is mounted between the hubs 16 in the usual manner and is held in place by the usual pin 17, the elliptical form of the eyes 16 permitting sufficient longitudinal play of the knuckle to allow the shoulders 11 to impinge against the aforesaid shoulders 13, whereby jamming or pounding of the coupling members is borne by said shoulders rather than by the pin 17 and the usual eye portions of the head. At 17 we show a loop connected to the lower hub 16 for the purpose of preventing the dropping out of a broken part of the pin 17. By said shoulders the probability of breakage of the strap member is materially reduced. If, however, a strap becomes broken at either or both of the hubs 16 or elsewhere, a substitute strap may be applied by the trainmen, in a few minutes, simply by applying a wrench to the bolts 15, loosening those on the head and re-setting them in the new strap. The delay incident to such repair is trifling compared with the delay under ordinary conditions, and the expense of a new strap, likewise, is smaller in proportion to the expense of a new head.

The strap as thus described constitutes, in effect, a safety device whereby the breakage of a coupler may be kept from the shank or the more expensive parts of the coupler. If, however, the coupler head is constructed dependably strong, the form of the strap is such that it might be made of a superior grade of metal at reasonable cost, whereby the probability of breakage of any part of the coupler would be greatly reduced.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a car coupler, the combination of a head having an integral laterally extending block, said block having vertical holes and p side of the head, the rear portion of the block being undercut, a strap embracing the top, rear and bottom sides of the block, the rear portion of the strap being inclined on its front face to correspond to said underout, means to secure the strap to the block, a knuckle pivoted within the strap, and a pin passing downwardly through the strap and constituting a pivot for the knuckle.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BERTI-IALOUISE KAHNE. AUGUSTA LEE ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

L. F. ZERFoss, MIMAH WEIDENHILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. V 

